Fic: Old Friends, Chapter 4 (Numb3rs, Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger)
Title: Old Friends, Chapter 4
Fandom: Numb3rs
Pair: Charlie Eppes / Colby Granger
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Not mine, etc.
Feedback: Always Welcome
NUMB3RS Main List
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Colby, David and Ian pulled out their guns and Colby kicked the door open. Colby
froze on the spot and stared at the sight in front of them. The house was half
dark. Charlie was standing on the top of the stairs. Cooper was laying on the
floor, holding his shoulder. Blood was slowly seeping thought his shirt.
Colby shook himself away from his stupor and rushed to Charlie, pulling the
gun away from him.
“Charlie, what the hell are you doing with that?”
“It’s your spare.” Charlie explained and kept his eyes on the wriggling man on
the floor. “It thought it was a burglar. I heard him moving there, and I…. I
panicked.”
Ian had pulled the blood-soaked shirt away to see the wound.
“It’s just a scratch.” He gave Cooper a cold glance. “And quit whining.”
“He shot me!” Cooper complained.
“You aren’t even supposed to be in town.”
“Why did you take my gun? You don’t even know how to use it!” Colby exclaimed.
“I got scared! I just wanted to scare him away, I didn’t know who it was!”
Charlie was starting to shiver.
“It’s just a little nick.” Ian commented. “I’ll take him to the hospital, they’ll
stitch him up.”
“I’ll come with you.” Charlie demanded.
“Charlie, you don’t need to-” Colby started.
“I do need to. I’ll go with Ian, you stay here with the baby, okay?”
“Charlie….”
“Please.”
------------------------------------------
Ian looked at Charlie. He was sitting in the hospital waiting area, sipping coffee.
Then a crooked smile appeared on the snipers face.
“You did it on purpose, didn’t you?”
“Did what?”
“Shoot Cooper. You knew it was him.”
“Maybe.”
“You didn’t tell Granger about our shooting lessons. That was no accidental
hit. You aimed for it.”
Charlie didn’t answer.
“I can tell, professor. That little nick didn’t cause any major harm but it hurts
like hell. That kinda shot is either an incredible coincident, or deliberate.
I meant what I said to you at the gun range. You’re a natural. You aimed for
him and you succeeded.”
“Maybe.”
“No maybes. That’s how it was.”
“Are you going to tell Colby?”
“No.”
“Thanks.”
Charlie got up and walked to the coffee machine.
“You got a quarter?”
“Yeah.” Ian followed him and dug some coins from his wallet. Charlie waited
till the machine spit out a cupful of brown slime.
“He went to Don’s place. His neighbour called.” He sighed deeply. “I warned
him and he…” He paused. “Little nick in the shoulder wasn’t bad enough.”
Charlie started giggling and he had to put the paper cup down on the table.
“No matter how much I wanted to hurt him, I couldn’t do worse than that.
I wanted to, but I couldn’t.”
------------------------------------------
“I still can’t believe it.” David sighed.
“Me neither. I mean Charlie with a gun…. The whole idea is weird.”
“I know. Did he ever tell you about that sniper case couple months before
you came to L.A.?”
“No.”
“There was a sniper on the loose shooting randomly chosen victims in randomly
chosen location. Don told him to stay away from the scene and Charlie marched
right into the area scribbling on his pad. The guy almost hit him.”
“Are you serious?” Colby looked horrified.
“Yeah, and he hardly even noticed anything was going on!”
“Sounds like Charlie…”
“I’m back.” Charlie walked in and slouched down on the couch. “Ian was right,
it was just a little scratch.”
“Where’s he now?” David asked.
“He’s taking Cooper and his truck to…. I don’t know where. Far away hopefully.”
“How much stitches did he need? Was it a good idea to just leave the hospital
so soon?”
“He was lucky Ian took him to the hospital. If it had been up to me I would
have taken him to the vet.”
“Anyway…” Colby interrupted. “We need to talk about guns. I understand that
you thought there was a burglar in the house, and you were scared, but you
can’t just take my gun like that. Me and Don and David are trained to use
them but you’re not.”
“I know, I’m sorry. I just wanted to scare him.”
“And it was an accident that you actually hit him. I know that, but it could
have been a lot worse than a little scratch. I’m not saying he wouldn’t have
deserved that, but…. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I-” Charlie didn’t finish. It looked like his thoughts had suddenly
gone to a totally different direction. “Did you call Don?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Good. He’s had enough drama for a while, can we just… leave it out?”
“Charlie, If he finds out some other way he’ll kill me. For letting you get
to my gun and for not telling him.”
“See the point?” Charlie smirked. “If we don’t tell him, he’ll never know,
and you’ll stay alive. And it was just one innocent little accident.” Helen’s
crying interrupted him through the baby monitor. “I’ll go check the baby.”
Charlie went upstairs and Colby and David shared a puzzled look.
TBC